1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a novel method of dehumidifying an environment, which includes a refrigeration system and an air conditioning system while reducing the operational cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior art systems have used refrigeration systems condensers to reheat the environment. This approach utilizes the heat which would normally be rejected to the outside environment to heat the inside environment. The Hy-Dry system sold by DTE Energy utilizes the liquid line from an air conditioning system to heat the air after it has passed over the cooling coil and air conditioning system""s liquid is sub-cooled in the process. This allows the unit to discharge air at a higher temperature causing a lower net ejected humidity. Although, in this situation dehumidification may or may not take place there is no change in the coefficient of performance of the over all system other than that which is due to enlarging the heat transfer surface. That is, the same effect could be generated by simply increasing the cooling coil surface. While other prior art systems have used desiccant wheels or they have operated the reheat, which in turn causes the air conditioning to turn on and remove the moisture. In the later cases the net result is at an added operational cost.